A Texas woman who dressed up as her teenage daughter before heading to high school for the day has been found guilty of trespassing.
Casey Garcia, 33, was sentenced to six months probation in El Paso County Criminal Court.
She faces a $700 fine and must perform 100 hours of community service. The charges stem from a June 2021 video uploaded to YouTube.
It showed Garcia tanning her skin and dying her hair to resemble her then 13-year-old daughter before heading to Ann M. Garcia-Enriquez Middle School for the day.
“Do I look like a seventh grader?” she asked the camera before stepping inside. ‘No? Cool, great.’
Casey Garcia, 33, was sentenced to six months’ probation after pretending to be her daughter for a day at a high school
In a viral video uploaded to YouTube, Garcia was seen walking the halls of Ann M. Garcia-Enriquez Middle School and participating in her daughter’s classes.
The mother explained in a subsequent video that she was trying to draw attention to the issue of student safety, especially as it involved school shootings
The video showed her posing in the bathroom mirror with a black and white backpack as she had lunch in the cafeteria and attended her daughter’s classes.
At one point, a teacher was heard calling Garcia by her daughter’s name: “Julie.”
When faced with backlash, Garcia disabled the comments on the video and filmed a response explaining that she was trying to make a statement about student safety, especially when it came to school shootings.
“We need better security in our schools, that’s what I was trying to prove, and I don’t want to be curt, but I feel like I’ve proven it,” Garcia said.
El Paso County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested the 33-year-old at her San Elizario home on June 4. She spent the day in jail and was released on $7,808 bond.
According to an affidavit, Garcia began recording outside the school around 8:45 a.m. before signing in with her daughter’s name and school identification number.
When entering one of the last classes, Garcia gave her daughter’s name when asked to identify herself, the affidavit said.
When the mother asked for help with topics the class had already covered, the teacher confronted her again.
Garcia admitted that she was the mother of a student and that she was participating in a “social experiment,” the affidavit said.
According to an affidavit, Garcia began recording outside the school (pictured) before signing in with her daughter’s name and school ID number
Earlier in the video, she was seen applying heavy makeup and doing her hair to look more like her then 13-year-old daughter.
Garcia, pictured with her daughter Julie (left), also faces a $700 fine and must serve 100 hours of community service
The teacher asked Garcia to visit the principal’s office. Garcia complied and tried to explain her purpose to the principal before leaving the school.
In addition to criminal trespass, she was charged with tampering with government records for allegedly forging her daughter’s signature, but the El Paso County District Attorney’s office dropped the charges.
Garcia admitted entering the school but pleaded not guilty to criminal trespassing. She asked for a jury trial.
In the aftermath of her conviction, Theresa Caballero, an attorney representing Garcia, told The Washington Post that she was glad her client had avoided prison time.
But Caballero also expressed her displeasure with conviction, saying, “It’s clear that trespassing on school property — and no one has been harmed by it — is less harmful than the harm you’re trying to avoid, which is a school shooting.”
Shortly after Garcia’s arrest, San Elizario Independent School District Superintendent Jeannie Mesa-Chavez released a statement.
“While there has been a breach of security by an individual associated with the school as a parent… we want to assure you that our security measures are being reviewed and evaluated,” she said.
Garcia also filmed the moment she was arrested, in a video that has since racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
“Just letting you know I’m recording,” she told officers as she walked out of her home, before asking an officer if he had “seen the video.”
“I pretended to be a seventh grader, and it went viral, and now the superintendent is mad,” Garcia said. “I said I wouldn’t go to the school grounds anymore, so… he’s figured it out.”
She then turned to the camera with a grin.
“He destroyed his ego, well, he wants to destroy mine. That’s okay.’
